Saturday, April 27, 2013

Monty's Blue Plate Diner

Last night I went to see Jason Isbell and Todd Snider at the Barrymore Theatre with my friend Jenny.  Before the show, we ate dinner at Monty's Blue Plate Diner, at 2089 Atwood Avenue in Madison, right across the street from the Barrymore.  It was very busy -- there was a holiday-fair-feeling in the air, with people from all walks of life out enjoying the first nice Spring evening in Madison.  There was a half hour wait for a table, but no waiting for seats at the counter. 

Monty's serves breakfast all day, and has an excellent selection of vegetarian foods on their menu.  I had a hard time choosing what to order.  I almost went with the Walnut Bistro Burger, Falafel Wrap, or Ultimate Mac and Cheese.  There are two grilled cheeses on the menu:  one with Swiss, cheddar and Parmesan cream cheese on brioche bread that is served with tomato dill soup, and the Farmer John's Italian Grilled Cheese, with roasted red peppers, provolone, mozzarella and kalamate olive tapenade on sourdough.  I ended up with the Italian. 


The Italian Grilled Cheese was very tasty.  The red peppers added a really bright aspect to the presentation and the olives contributed a lot of savoriness, but didn't overpower the sandwich.  The cheese was warm but not quite melted, which gave it a really good "bite."  This was a 5-napkin sandwich, deliciously greasy.  The bread was a very hard sourdough, grilled perfectly.  It tore up the roof of my mouth and it's still rough this morning ... but no pain, no gain I guess.  The only downfall to the sandwich was that the bottom bread was very, very soggy.  The solidly built crust supported it though, and it didn't fall apart.

Jenny had the Heathen Vegan Shoplifter's Delight, a knife and fork sandwich with Portobello mushrooms, tempeh, onions and avocado.  She said it was fabulous.  The only bad part of our dining experience was that we could not eat one more bite and would have to forgo one of the scrumptious looking desserts displayed in a case by the entrance. 

Overall, it was a good dinner at friendly restaurant.



   

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